July 31

Hello from Cappadochia....

Sampsounta, Giresounta, Trapezounta .... all Greek names for Samsun, Gerasun, and Trabzon .... the only reason I am saying this is that there are A LOT of churches here .... but almost none are open... here is more info on Trabzon ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabzon.

So after we left Attaturk's house the next day we visited the Monastery of Panagia Sumela...
http://www.karalahana.com/english/archive/trabzon9.html click on http://www.lahana.org/blog/Sumela%20Monastery.htm to see a picture ...

created in Byzantine times ube abandoned in 1923 after the creation of the Turkish republic ..this is from the lonely planet guide....The monastery is magical ..it clings to a sheer rock wall hight above evergreen forests and a rushing mountain stream .. There are two entrances .... we got to the bottom and one of the good things about mom and dad speaking Turkish is that we tend to get more information .... everyone is amazed at how great their language skills are ... and they call my mom's dialect sweet...

Anyway ... the local guide told us that we can hire a car to take us up further ... THANK GOD ...it is a huge climb and one we were all happy to come down from ... so we went up and only had to walk about 10-15 minutes uphill... It was a bit weird for me because we expected to see areas where we can light a candle, kiss an icon, sort of regular things we do when we visit a church ... but there are no candles and no icons except the ones -- frescoes -- on the ceilings and the sides of each area..the sad thing for us throughout this trip has been that so many people have damaged these beautiful frescoes .... dad took lots of video and I took lots of pictures that will be posted one of these days ...

After a tiring afternoon ... we came back to town only to find a bus going to Rize right next to the square ... we decided to take the bus there ...Rize is the major centre of the Laz people and they are known for their colorful traditional costumes and folk music ... we did not get to see any of this however ... so we took the bus ... just an informal survey ... not counting us ...15 women ... 8 dressed western style -- 7 -- traditional covered with a head scarf and only their faces, hands and ankles showing .... 3 of the 7 were wearing pantyhose ... it was about 98 degrees .... I do not know how they can wear all this clothing ...

If these women decide to go swimming they go in full gear ... not sure how that works either ...

Anyway, Rize is also the tea capital of Turkey ... so dad gave a couple of dollars and got one pound of tea ... hopefully we can enjoy it when we get back to Halki.

The next day we took the bus ... lots of bus transporting us on this trip ... I have to say it has been extremely reliable and fairly comfortable to travel these great distances by bus .. on the long hauls we even get a cookie, drinks, etc ...

Our first stop was a three hour trip to Ordu .... there we visited the church of the Ypapanti ...which is now the cultural center in the center of the city .... The church was whitewashed inside and a huge Turksih flag and a huge Attaturk banner hung on each side inside .... hard for me not to see any frescoes ....

The area around the church were once inhabited by Greeks .... as a matter of fact .... our friends Mary and Joanna, Kosta -- their mom came from here and Joanna thinks she lived in one of those homes ... you can so tell which homes were once Greek .... many of them are falling apart and many of them have obviously new owners ...

We also went up to the top of the area and saw a beautiful view of the city .... drank some ayran ... which is a yogurt drink we drink often here and relaxed for a bit ... we then went to a ethnographic museum which was ok ...

Then onto Samsun .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsun

three hour ride again where we spent the night ... lots of good night life here ... by the water ...

Legend has it that the Amazons .. fierce women fighters came form this region ... lonely planet writesthat some believe that Alexander the Great may have had a child with the Amazonian queen Thalestris...

The next day we went to Sinop ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinop%2C_Turkey ... which was terrific ... a sea fishing village with lots of beaches -- sand ones .... we had a nice dip in the Black Sea ... took a get caught reading picture ... and ate delicious fresh fish .. we also had our first Raki there .... cheers to that!

From the lonely planet ... Sinop takes its name form the legend of Sinope ..daughter of the river god Asopus ....Zeus fell in love with her and in an attempt to buy her affections ...promised to grant her any wish ...Sinope who had no intention of letting herself be seduced even by Zeus, asked for eternal virginity. Outwitted Zeus gave in ... and allowed her to live out her days in happy but celibate solitude at the tip of the peninsula ...things that make you go hmmmm....

The town is worth a visit!

We only stayed one night ... we had to climb to the fourth floor to get to our room .... but otherwise it was a nice hotel. we have had good luck with hotels so far thanks to Lonely Planet ... we call that day ...thank God mom can speak Turkish .... and get a room that night ... as a matter of fact we do not have a room for tomorrow as yet ....

We left the next day -- for a heck of a trip ... From Sinop to Samsun -- 3 hours ... we got there at 3 pm and waited till 7 p.m. to take the bus to Kaiseri ... on our way to Cappadochia ... It arrived in Kaiseri at 3 a.m. and the next bus to Goreme was at 7 a.m. .... so we waited ....

We got to Goreme -- which has been the center of our tour of Cappadochia -- two full days and we head off tomorrow to go to Demre and Myra .. Demre is the site of Santa Clause ... St. Nick ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goreme

Here is a good site of Cappadocia -- with a few pictures going along ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

I am running out of time so I will write more later .. let me just say that we have really loved this region .... we were so so tired yesterday after not sleeping ... but today at 5 a.m. mom and I ...dad stayed sleeping .... mom and I went on our first ever hot air balloon ride .... so more on this later ...check out the web site http://www.goremeballoons.com/main.htm it was truly fun ... although now at 8:30 p.m. ..... we are getting tired ...

Chat more later, Evie Sofia and Gregory